The Darkness - Permission
to Land (Epic)
2003The Darkness
The Darkness - Permission
to Land (Epic)
2003
1. "Black Shuck"
(3:20)
2. "Get Your Hands Off My Woman" (2:46)
3. "Growing on Me" (3:29)
4. "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" ( 3:36)
5. "Love Is Only a Feeling" (4:19)
6. "Givin' Up" (3:34)
7. "Stuck in a Rut" (3:17)
8. "Friday Night" (2:56)
9. "Love on the Rocks With No Ice" (5:56)
10. "Holding My Own" (4:56)
The Darkness are one of those buzz bands that I had heard about long before I had actually heard. Well, I finally scored a copy of "Permission to Land" in a trade and to be quite honest, I like The Darkness, they are just good fun rock'n roll to me. I have seen these guys labeled as an "80's throwback", but I can't believe anyone would label these guys as "80's" or call them "metal." Perhaps the spandex is a bit of metal fashion from the 80's, but the music is rooted in the 1970's in my opinion. They have a retro 1970's sound that reminded me a bit of old Sweet, Slade, and a bit of Queen as well. Justin Hawkins' over-the-top vocals are certainly the focal point of the band. I suppose most will either love him or hate him. Personally I like over-the-top, charismatic, stylized vocals. I tend to like bizarre vocals (Udo, Grave Digger, Nitro, etc.) that most people don't like. His shreaky, falsetto vocals work well in pop songs like "Black Shuck", "I Believe in a Think Called Love" and the "Givin' Up." As I said in the beginning of this review, these guys are fun. I would imagine that while they are hugely popular in Europe, they will have a harder time finding acceptance from metal and hard rock fans in the U.S. as most of the metal coming out of the U.S. is more concerned with brooding, hatred and anger than with having fun. When did rock music stop being fun? For that alone I will give the Darkness and extra star! Unfortunately some of the lyrics aren't so great. While songs like "I Believe in a Think Called Love" are fun and catchy, "Givin' Up" is an expletive filled song about heroin. (Hmmmm, you'd think people would learn from the past.)